Page 69 of The Stone Initiation
He held up his mop as if offering it to me. “It’s dark outside.”
“Yeah. I know.”
“Dark and twisty.”
I skirted him with a nod and a smile. “Thank you. I’ll be fine.”
His gaze emptied out for a moment, so it was like looking into glass.
“Varsa? You okay?”
He smiled, his gaze still dead and empty. “Perfect.”
Gooseflesh broke out on my skin. “Great. Bye.”
He’d been hurt by the graynites. Tortured and goodness knew what else. They’d broken him. These lapses in concentration weren’t his fault, but damn it was creepy as fuck.
The forest trail was quiet, and the sounds of nature soothing as I ran along the winding track. The tempo of my sneakers hitting the ground, the beat of my heart, the whistle of the wind, those were the only things that mattered.
Everything else slipped away.
When I had a problem to solve or a conundrum to resolve, then running always helped. Running or hitting supernatural things. They allowed my brain to focus on the problem in background mode and the solution usually presented itself at the most unexpected times.
So, I ran.
I’d almost completely zoned out and slipped into autopilot when something landed in front of me with a thud.
I skidded to a halt with a shocked yelp as the female elite rose from her superhero crouch.
She flicked the tail of her braid over her shoulder before fixing her milky eyes on me. “We need to talk.”
* * *
Had I heard her right?“You want to train me?”
“Yes.”
Who knew how long it would be before I could get into the secret file room in the main building. Training might come in handy, not to mention it would give me time with an elite. One who’d known Romi, who may even have been with him when he was killed.
Training was an excellent idea. “Thank you. I’d like that.”
She smiled tersely. “Good. We’ll begin tomorrow. There’s a narrow trail at the curve in the main track which leads to a small clearing. Meet me there tomorrow at six. We start then.” She shot back up into the sky leaving me with her instructions and a strange gooey feeling in my chest because there was no other reason for her to do this but Serath.
He'd asked her to do this.
Train me.
Give me a fighting chance.
Because he cared.
Because he was mine…Whoa.
Where the heck had that come from?
I turned and headed back toward the dorms.
I had a mate. A fated mate. Me, a halfblood.
